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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041769">A Death In The Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecoHansen31/pseuds/HecoHansen31'>HecoHansen31</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>'Cause Maybe I'd Still Feel Alive Without You [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, Hellblazer, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Zatanna (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, I Tried, Just a lot of angst., OOC! Characters, Probably not matching the comics but oh well, Start In Media Res, Suicidal Thoughts, Violence, bad mental health</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:35:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,350</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041769</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecoHansen31/pseuds/HecoHansen31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dearly beloved…”.</p><p>why can’t we have an happy ending?</p><p>because the universe doesn’t seem done with Laurel Cellini, and the more she is cursed by Fate, the more she discovers new truths about herself and her world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jason Todd/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>'Cause Maybe I'd Still Feel Alive Without You [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028177</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Death In The Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello there, lovelies!</p><p>you seriously thought that I could give you such a sweet ending, didn’t you?</p><p>well, I might have... tricked you, because apparently there is more to Laurel’s story and I just thought that I’d share it, although probably nobody is interested about these two idiots anymore.</p><p>also I beg you to have a bit of patience with me and my chapters, because they are all so tricking long to write, so it might take me a bit and also I promise that slowly everything will be revealed, soon.</p><p>if you have any questions, I am always here, and I am always curious about knowing what you guys end up thinking of my idiotic creations, because it always helps me understanding what you guys want to see more and what I could do better.</p><p>leave a comment or a reblog, if you like what you are reading.</p><p>have a nice reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>(quote by Hiromu Arakawa)</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>“That I'd fallen for a lie? You were never on my side Fool me once, fool me twice Are you death or paradise? Now you'll never see me cry There's just no time to die”</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <a href="https://href.li/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkEa3TwTEUA">
      <strong>‘No Time To Die’ by Billie Eilish.</strong>
    </a>
  </p>
</div><p>“Dearly beloved…”.</p><p>People took their places in the pews of the church.</p><p>The first few pews were left free and the fact that the church was so small just enhanced the concept of nobody that close being there, although there was plenty of journalists hounding the ground outside the church, pushed back solely by the threat of a citation from Bruce Wayne.</p><p>“… we are gathered here today…”.</p><p>He was in the closest pew to the altar, although his presence in there made zero sense, considering his religious background, but he could only guess that it mattered to somebody he was close with, as he looked in front of himself.</p><p>“… to honor the memory of a daughter…”.</p><p>Nobody was there to celebrate her as a daughter.</p><p>Her mother had disinherited her so, there wouldn’t be any way she presented to her daughter’s funeral.</p><p>“… as a colleague…”.</p><p>Half the police force had turned its back to her when she had most needed it.</p><p>Aside from Jim Gordon obviously, who is standing beside Bruce.</p><p>“… as a friend…”.</p><p>Damian was behind them and the sole reason why he chose not to stand in front with Bruce and Jim is because he didn’t want anybody to catch him crying.</p><p>He could hide better in the crowded space behind the two man, hold in place by Stephanie, Dick, Cass and Duke.</p><p>Babs and Judith awere on the opposite row.</p><p>There was an empty place between them.</p><p>“… Laurel Cellini”.</p><hr/><p>The TV was loud, maybe a bit too much for somebody who had only recently exited a coma that had lasted one month and was still reeling in from the aftershocks of this and the torture her body had undergone.</p><p>Alongside the chemical effects of what had been poured in her body.</p><p>But it isn’t the volume that caught on Laurel, as she came back from the small walk she went on every morning early, to shake herself away from the nightmares of the night and to get out of Zatanna’s curious glance, laced with the right tip of <em>‘you don’t belong here’.</em></p><p>She hates facing her <strong>‘sister’.</strong></p><p>But she hated even more the cold of having been stuck for the month in a coma.</p><p>It seemed to have been sucked in her bones.</p><p>John Costantine, her ‘sister’ ‘s ‘fuckbuddy’, had told her that it is probably due to the fact that whatever toxin she had been given, had worked wonders on her adrenaline, completely draining it, which meant that her body just didn’t feel the need to protect her from coldness.</p><p>Or from warmth.</p><p>She had once hold her hands onto the stove of the kitchen and then pushed down.</p><p>She hadn’t felt nothing, as pain didn’t seep through her hands and only Zatanna catching her doing such a thing made her realize that her hand was slowly on fire.</p><p>She had had to endure a magical session of healing with her ‘sister’ again looking at her as if she was crazy.</p><p>Laurel had just smiled back at her with that sickly sweet expression that just stuck on her face every time she wasn’t in control of her body.</p><p>What caught Laurel’s attention was that <strong>they were broadcasting world-wide her funeral.</strong></p><p>Or at least small parts of it.</p><p><em>‘We weren’t able to show you the religious ceremony inside the church…’ Laurel</em> honestly can’t believe that somebody bothered to honor her Catholicism rebellion, but it definitely added up for a darker edge as the reporter nodded to the church, a gothic beauty that matched Gotham’s tacky aesthetic <em>‘… but we were able to intercept a few parts of the burial and to catch on a few guests…’.</em></p><p>
  <strong>That’s when Zatanna caught her stare, finally.</strong>
</p><p>John was sprawled on the couch, probably still sleeping, but her ‘sister’ ’s eyes were settled on the screen, meanwhile she was chewing loudly on what looks like a cup of milk and cereal <strike>(unlike Laurel she didn’t seem to have a tendence to stress-baking).</strike></p><p>Hadn’t they been so worried of leaving her in the kitchen alone, after the <strong><em>‘hand incident’</em></strong>, Laurel thought that maybe… she could have tried doing muffin.</p><p>Then Zatanna’s eyes shifted lightly as she heard the rustling of Laurel getting off her body the old jacket that the girl had lent her.</p><p>Laurel couldn’t help but hate the way her body had thoroughly thinned in that month, enough to fit in Zatanna’s clothes.</p><p>Zatanna who could have been half Laurel, back when she had been still healthy.</p><p>Either way, Laurel didn’t stop herself from thinking too much about the weight difference as her sister’s eyes suddenly dipped lightly down as she noticed what was happening.</p><p>She clumsily tried to reach out for the remote <strike>(Laurel hadn’t honestly seen her do anything without using magic in these days)</strike> to switch the TV off.</p><p><strong>“No, don’t”</strong> Laurel’s voice sounded foreign.</p><p>Her vocal cords had been so unused as of lately that it wasn’t a startling experience when her voice was so rough that sometimes it just remained stuck in the back of her throat.</p><p>
  <strong> <strike>Not that Laurel talked much, these days.</strike> </strong>
</p><p><em>“I can change the channel”</em> Zatanna’s proposal was almost desperate as if Laurel had caught her doing something bad, and the girl spared her one glance, taking in the fear of a startled animal caught meanwhile they were doing something they shouldn’t have.</p><p>And honestly Laurel couldn’t deal with this right now.</p><p>
  <strong>“I was going to my room anyway”.</strong>
</p><p>No, it wasn’t her room.</p><p>
  <strong>Her room had a ton of stuffed animals, her computer and her books.</strong>
</p><p>It had a horrible color on the walls that she and Jason had wanted so desperately to change, but never gotten to, since he would always distract her, when they set down to find a better color.</p><p>
  <em> <strike>Had he been at the funeral?</strike> </em>
</p><p>She hadn’t caught sight of him, although she had to admit that she hadn’t even noticed the screen, preferring not to dare any glance on its way, since she didn’t want to think about what Laurel had been to any of them.</p><p>
  <strong>Not when they had all turned their back to her.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>When she most needed it.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>No, that wasn’t her room.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>That was Zatanna’s guest room.</em>
</p><p>The vast amount of awful gizmos and gadgets definitely showed that.</p><p>
  <strike>Not that Laurel had done much to make it proper.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strike>Not that she cared for such a thing.</strike>
</p><p>If John and Zatanna hadn’t been constantly watching her as two hawks, <strong>she would have been long gone.</strong></p><p>
  <em>And she doesn’t know whether she meant from that house or off the face of Earth.</em>
</p><p>Suicidal thoughts had been something she had always struggled with.</p><p>But back then she had had a therapist who helped her to deal with those awful thoughts.</p><p>Now, her therapist had been interrogated by the GCPD to try to find <strong>the reason behind why Laurel Cellini, secretary of the GCPD would shoot her best friend, Pearl Mirnel in cold blood.</strong></p><p>She couldn’t think about that.</p><p>Pearl’s funeral hadn’t certainly been broadcasted, world-wide.</p><p>She still remembered being so heartbroken, when she had first heard about it, meanwhile she was stuck in Arkham.</p><p>
  <em>Had her mother been the one who gave the permission for the broadcast?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>She doubted it.</strong>
</p><p>Her mother had publicly disinherited her and basically banned her from ever having anything to do with the Cellini’s family, letting her down in such a way that Laurel hadn’t thought that her mother could do, thinking that she had already hit rock bottom, a long time ago.</p><p>
  <strong>And it had hurt.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>It had hurt to be again a child, pleading her mother to take care of her, just to be pushed back down and ignored again.</em>
</p><p>Just this time, Laurel had actually risked dying.</p><p>
  <strong>She was actually a bit curious about who might have allowed the broadcast.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Bruce?</em>
</p><p>She doubted it, considering that he had been radio silence since her arrest and Selina, when she had come to her to suggest a lawyer that would help Laurel, had explicitly told her that she had fought with the Bat about his intention to let Laurel on her own inside of Arkham.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Who would want the funeral of a police murderer on National Television?</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>‘If you actually watched it, maybe you might discover the answer to that question’.</em>
</p><p>She hadn’t heard that voice in so long.</p><p>
  <strong>It’s the Laurel that knew what she was doing.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>That woke up and had a purpose.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>That desperately clang to the life she has been given.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Now all she knew was the Laurel that ached in the dust till her eyes closed.</strike>
</p><p>She might not have a TV at her disposal, but the iPad that she had been given by Zatanna was on the desk and she reached out for it.</p><p>It wasn’t so hard to find a few homemade videos of the funeral, alongside a live of it on a Gotham TV channel, that presented the moment of the burial.</p><p>
  <strong>Judith carried her coffin, and that didn’t surprise her.</strong>
</p><p><em>‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, go, Judith!’</em> those had been <strong>her last words to her,</strong> as her gaze had then turned to Poison Ivy and she had ordered her to take her friend far away from there.</p><p>
  <strike>Whether she wanted it or not.</strike>
</p><p>Selina also held the coffin, and Laurel was pretty sure that one of the two other redheads carrying the coffin was Poison Ivy in civilian clothes and in disguise, meanwhile she had no clue who is the other redhead with a bowlcut that respected the military standard.</p><p>She could only guess that there hadn’t been many that would be willing to carry a <em>murderer</em> on their shoulders.</p><p>Dick and Tim are at the end of the coffin and Laurel couldn’t help but be grateful that they didn’t let Damian participate to such a thing.</p><p>
  <strong>She actually hoped that left him back home.</strong>
</p><p>But her hopes were completely shattered, when she saw green eyes that appear on screen beside his father, as Bruce Wayne looked at the coffin being pushed on the ground as the priest said his last blessings, giving the people around a moment of comfort as they stood and honored Laurel’s memory.</p><p>Jim Gordon took the microphone first, when the following video started.</p><p>
  <em>‘Laurel Cellini was a good woman, who this city treated horridly, accusing her of a crime she never committed and never would have committed, because as it has been proved a nameless thug was Pearl Mirnel’s killer and not the precious resource that Laurel Cellini was’.</em>
</p><p>That explained the broadcast.</p><p>
  <strong>They had proved her innocence.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Too late.</strike>
</p><p>This was done to clarify Laurel’s honesty.</p><p>And to honor her memory.</p><p>
  <strong>Again, too late.</strong>
</p><p>She was almost halfway through shutting down Jim’s written comment, before the man achingly <strong>dropped down</strong> on the podium on which he was standing on.</p><p>Bruce, who was the closest, moved to help him, just to be held back by Dick and Jim, himself, who reassured him quickly that <em>everything was alright.</em></p><p>But Laurel knows that whatever was meant to be spilled over by his lips is anything but alright.</p><p><em>‘… Laurel was <strong>like a daughter to me</strong>, maybe it was because she was so similar to my own…’</em>.</p><p>Babs’ face appeared in the midst of the crowd, and she smiled through the tears.</p><p>
  <em>‘… so that is why I am just so attached to her and I can’t believe that a child so young and promising lost her life for my own mistake, a mistake of the police… <strong>so, it is my intention to drop down from my position as a commissioner…’.</strong></em>
</p><p>Laurel wanted to claw him out of the screen, so little and small, and to hold him in his palm, reprimanding him for such a bold and stupid choice, that seemed new to everyone else, <strong>because loud gasps could be heard from the other participants,</strong> and this time Bruce did shoot forward to take him in his arms.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>‘… Jim, it is a heavy decision’.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Which is Bruce’s way of saying <em>we’ll discuss it later.</em></p><p>Laurel really hoped that Bruce can dissuade him from resigning.</p><p>It wouldn’t have been fair.</p><p>
  <strong>He was the sole good man Gotham had ever known.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>He was the sole good man that Laurel had ever known.</strike>
</p><p>The clip ended and before Laurel could browse more or block the iPad to stop herself from morbidly stalking her own funeral, YouTube pushed onto another clip and Damian’s green eyes stared deeply ahead of himself, not necessarily in the camera.</p><p>
  <strong>To Laurel.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Wherever she was.</em>
</p><p>It was meant to get to her.</p><p><em>‘Laurel was a good woman, a precious asset to Gotham…’ </em>those aren’t the words of a child and Laurel almost broke down imagining Damian repeating such a discourse <em>‘… <strong>she was my friend and she never doubted me for a second</strong>, so I am just here to tell her that I never doubted her innocence and that this is not what she deserved…’.</em></p><p>Then the protests started</p><p>
  <strong>Cops.</strong>
</p><p>Laurel could recognize a few of them.</p><p>She had actually worked for them.</p><p><strong><em>“She was a fucking whore!”</em></strong>.</p><p>Damian seemed too taken aback to properly reply with violence, although Laurel noticed immediately the way his fists clenched on his sides and the way Dick moved to the podium to get him out of it as the shouts became more intense.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“The fucking Red Hood’s bitch is being put on a pedestal and given an award when all she did was snitch out on respectable men who died, because of her large fucking mouth!”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Laurel wanted to say that she had never snitched on man that was honestly innocent.</p><p>That she had fucked the Red Hood because she had loved the man behind the mask.</p><p>
  <strike>And that she still fucking loved him.</strike>
</p><p>But she has to guess that she had lost that voice the second that Pearl’s body had hit the ground.</p><p>
  <em>Laurel wonders what they buried, instead of her body, since they probably never found the body.</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>A mannequin?</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong>Is the coffin empty?</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Did they put a few of her books as a sentimentality tool?</em>
</p><p>Her thoughts are <strong>morbid.</strong></p><p>And after she had closed the iPad, she thought she was doing so for the best.</p><p>And she certainly managed to avoid attracting anymore Zatanna’s attention, after she barged in uninvited in her own room, without trying to knock or advert Laurel of her presence.</p><p>For somebody who was an only child, she could certainly be as awfully annoying.</p><p>Almost as her sister, Victoria.</p><p>She also wasn’t at her funeral.</p><p>Exactly like Jason.</p><p>But was Laurel seriously surprised?</p><p><strong><em>“Thought I’d check on you”</em></strong> muttered the black-haired girl, standing on the threshold and refusing to walk over the distance that would allow her to sit down comfortably on Laurel’s bed, as if her presence on it, signaled she wasn’t <em>wanted “… we didn’t have our usual morning chat”.</em></p><p><strong>They always talked medical stuff</strong>, once Laurel came back, to see if Laurel’s body is slowly healing.</p><p>The fact that her own body was slowly and magically healing itself in the time that she had spent with Zatanna was something that scared Laurel, more that impress her, mostly because it was another thing that completely <strong>desensitized from the world around her.</strong></p><p>She had been experiencing various kind of pains throughout her body for the first few weeks she had been with Zatanna, mostly reeling from the torture that Punchline had inflicted on her and the whole explosion.</p><p><strong>She had been badly deaf for three days</strong>, before her ears healed completely and she was able to actually listen to her sister’s <strong>melodious</strong> voice, meanwhile Constantine had basically <strong><em>tattooed</em></strong> a magic cast onto her left knee, the one that had been shattered by the hammer, since it had seemed to be <strong><em>healing wrong</em></strong>.</p><p>
  <strong>It was scary.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>As the thought that she actually owned that magic.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>‘We are the daughters of the most famous magician in the world</em></strong><em>, what were you expecting?’</em> had once commented Zatanna, meanwhile Laurel had been turning around in bed, unable to understand why her broken ribs were slowly putting themselves back in place, without any help.</p><p>
  <strong>Much faster than they should have.</strong>
</p><p>It was the sole time that Laurel had noticed a grim expression from her sister, <strong>at their father’s mention.</strong></p><p>Laurel had the clear sensation of not being welcome in her sister’s household because she was the public demonstration that Zatanna’s greatest hero hadn’t been anything more than a fraud, in his family life, having an illegitimate daughter, with a man that wasn’t her mother.</p><p>
  <strong>A daughter that Zatanna knew about.</strong>
</p><p>The sole memories that Laurel had, instead, of her father had been locked in her mind for all her life and solely Joker’s gas had been able to activate them, completely forcing itself through her subconscious closed doors and reminding Laurel of the time her father had come to meet her.</p><p><strong><em>‘She isn’t your daughter’</em></strong> her mother had insisted, meanwhile John Zatanna had looked at the soft girl, who had been hugging tightly her teddy bear to her chest, hiding behind it.</p><p>
  <strong>Not from him, but from her own mother.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>‘… she is, Cristiana”</em></strong> had replied the man, coming closer to Laurel and crouching down lowly.</p><p>His eyes had traced Laurel’s appearance, searching a clue of his words in the girl soft body and dulled down green eyes.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>‘… does she have my magic?’.</em> </strong>
</p><p><strong><em>‘I won’t hesitate to call security, if you don’t move away’</em></strong> and although her father hadn’t been scared by Cristiana’s threat, he had seen what his mother had wanted to show.</p><p>
  <em>A mother on the verge of a hysterical crisis, worried about her daughter.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And a child with a power that she couldn’t just understand.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Seeing all of this, he had chosen not to fight for his own child.</strong>
</p><p>In her worst days, Laurel had wanted to hate him too, for having left her to her mother so easily.</p><p>
  <strong>But he had a daughter at home.</strong>
</p><p>A wife, who wouldn’t have liked <strong>his dirty secret.</strong></p><p>
  <em>She couldn’t completely push her condition onto his shoulders.</em>
</p><p>But this didn’t stop Laurel from hating John Zatara, deep down.</p><p>
  <strong>Still, he hadn’t left her immediately, without leaving her something.</strong>
</p><p>The spell that he had made in order <strong>for her to be always bound to him, in emergency cases.</strong></p><p>
  <em>The one that had left her lips, when she had found herself in extreme danger.</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>The one that had brought her to Constantine and Zatanna.</strike>
</p><p>Her mother’s slap was the last part of her memory, as she ordered her to forget and <strong><em>grow up</em></strong>.</p><p>And Laurel had obeyed.</p><p><strong><em>“How was the walk?”</em></strong>.</p><p>Laurel must have been too silent, meanwhile Zatanna flexed lightly her knee to see how it was healing.</p><p>She must have been lost for too long in her head.</p><p>
  <em>“… the bad weather didn’t bother you, did it?”.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Honestly, nothing ever bothered her these days.</strong>
</p><p>Or better, she was so angry and sad most of the days.</p><p>
  <strong>But it felt like she was experiencing all those emotions from behind a wall.</strong>
</p><p>Like she couldn’t just break down in the middle of nowhere.</p><p>And yet everything just was held together by her intensity and the fact that if she broke, <strong>this time it would have been for ever.</strong></p><p><em>“No”</em>.</p><p>Laurel’s somber answers didn’t startle anymore Zatanna, although she felt how the grip onto her knee became less tight, as the girl patted fully the lost mass of her calves, before moving to her thigh.</p><p>
  <em>“… it didn’t”.</em>
</p><p>It was an awkward silence and Laurel couldn’t help but notice <strong>Zatanna’s inexperience at being an older sister.</strong></p><p>She wasn’t a terrible caregiver, but she wasn’t definitely used to the new role that Fate had pushed onto her, and although Laurel would have given her a few points for the effort, she wouldn’t have said that Zatanna wasn’t too intent on learning what comforted Laurel and what reduced her to tears.</p><p>
  <strike>The sight of her starving thighs definitely did that.</strike>
</p><p>But Laurel held herself back, as she faced the roof of the small and elegant house that the woman had taken for one of her latest gigs and continued on using since she and Constantine agreed that moving with Laurel in that state would have been dangerous.</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel was slowly getting used to being treated like an animal.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Referred as such.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strike>As if she didn’t have a will of her own.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“They proved you were innocent…”</em></strong>.</p><p>It was meant to be said to fill the silence and probably because Zatanna didn’t think that she had actually watched her own funeral and what had happened during it.</p><p>
  <em>“… in the process”.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Is this your way of saying that I am not welcome here, anymore?”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Sometimes anger and rudeness were better than apathy.</em>
</p><p>Laurel meant well, but it all came <strong>ragged and sharp.</strong></p><p>Zatanna’s raised her pale eyes at that, meeting Laurel’s stare, probably expecting her sister to back off once she had her full attention, but the girl, who had never been good with eye-contact kept it and held it, there.</p><p><strong>Till it was Zatanna who lowered it</strong>, because Laurel would have found the truth in there.</p><p><em>“You know that me and John are happy for you to stay here, as long as you need it…”</em> <strong>it was as warm as frozen food and as thoughtful as a prebuilt gift</strong> <em>“… you are family…”.</em></p><p><strong><em>“Am I not your family’s dirty secret?”</em></strong> she replied instead, pushing Zatanna’s grip to again become looser, meanwhile it was around her wounded chest<em> “… because that’s what I am after all. The proof that <strong>your father was a</strong>…”.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Don’t talk about things that don’t concern you”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>So, that had stuck a nerve.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Interesting.</strong>
</p><p>Laurel hadn’t been already very good at following orders, <strike>and the sole time that she had done it, she had ended up in an orange suit</strike>, but now that she lacked the emotional capacity for it…</p><p>
  <strike>… it was much worse.</strike>
</p><p>She held Zatanna’s eyes, as she raised them.</p><p>
  <em>To do what, honestly?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Scare her?</strong>
</p><p>She should have worked harder at that.</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel had survived death.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>She had been tortured.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>And she had been abandoned by everyone she loved.</strong>
</p><p>Honestly, she would have liked any outcome of fighting with her sister.</p><p>
  <em>Pain was helpful and fuck if she desperately ached for adrenaline.</em>
</p><p>But again, Zatanna lowered her eyes, and Laurel was almost tempted of being the one to hit her.</p><p>Because she was treating her like a sick patient.</p><p>And honestly, Laurel could handle the babying, but not the justifications that were given for her horrible behavior.</p><p>
  <strong>She just wanted to put down, to fucking be shaken awake and pushed roughly against the reality that now was her life, with magical powers and PTSD.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>But everyone treated her like a fucking idiot.</em>
</p><p><em>“I am done”</em>.</p><p>It was a whisper, probably because Zatanna most have noticed that she wasn’t too reactive, again, stuck in her mind and held there by the thousands of thoughts that hurt her.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… don’t strain yourself too much”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Laurel wanted to scream at her.</p><p>Wanted to rip at the bandages.</p><p>And the sole reason why she didn’t do it was because she knew that Zatanna would have then held her back with magic and healed her through her powers.</p><p>And Laurel felt like the sole thought of magic touching her skin would have given her an allergic reaction.</p><p>The first time that she had tried to use it, <strong>she had had a panic attack.</strong></p><p>
  <em>So, she strained away from magic, although it was a part of her.</em>
</p><p>Zatanna abandoned the room, as Laurel’s iPad lighted up, asking her whether she was still watching the video that she had paused, and she just switched off the whole thing, <strong>resisting the temptation of throwing it against the wall.</strong></p><p>And Constantine caught her in that action, right as she was setting it down, gripping it with much more intensity than it was needed.</p><p><strong><em>“What do you want to start treating her nicely?”</em></strong>.</p><p>John’s tone was sarcastic in a way that was meant for her to understand that he was displeased with her, for how she was treating Zatanna.</p><p>
  <strong>This would have worked only on the old Laurel.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>But right now, she could care less what a fucking tool thought of her.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“… fuck off”</em></strong> Laurel muttered, as her legs shifted fully onto the bed, from where they were hanging from it, as she let the iPad hit the ground with a satisfying sound that just made John more annoyed <strong><em>“… don’t you have someone to turn into a fucking lizard”.</em></strong></p><p>His eyes definitely gleamed in a way that said that told her he would have gladly turned her in a lizard, if she had kept up this attitude.</p><p>
  <strong>And Laurel dared him to.</strong>
</p><p>But Constantine just shook himself a bit, in his coat, before pushing himself further in Laurel’s temporary room and sitting lightly onto the small portion of bed that Laurel wasn’t occupying, completely ignoring her veiled glares.</p><p><strong><em>“You know you are a fucking threat, Laurel</em></strong>”.</p><p>His hands fidgeted with the lighter in his pocket.</p><p><strong><em>“Sorry for disrupting your sexual life”</em></strong> she shot back, and John laughed loudly enough that the broad sound shook his shoulder in a way that heightened his tight corporation, and Laurel couldn’t help but bit her lips at seeing a bit of the old Laurel re-appearing on the surface.</p><p><strong><em>“… bold of you assume that we had one, before”</em></strong> replied the exorcist, as he lightly turned to Laurel, with a hopeful smile, but she just pushed herself back, avoiding to face him <em>“… but aside from you taking jabs at me and Zee… which is something that you shouldn’t do, considering that we saved you…”.</em></p><p><em>“Just because a stupid charm brought me here”</em> Laurel added with annoyance dripping in her voice.</p><p>It was common knowledge in the household that if she hadn’t been in a fucking coma, Laurel would have preferred to bleed out than go back to their household.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… what do you want to stop being so mean to her?”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>John’s words were a proposal.</p><p>He obviously wanted to try to get to a <em>quid pro quo</em>.</p><p>He and Zatanna gave Laurel something that she wanted, so she would act less like the edgy brat that she was being.</p><p>
  <strong>This would benefit heavily all three of them.</strong>
</p><p>Laurel had a few ideas, already.</p><p>
  <em>‘Stab me in the fucking chest’.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>‘Make this sensation of apathy disappear’.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… can you turn back the time?”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>‘Can you stop me from even solely considering moving to Gotham?’.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>‘Can you stop me from being born?’.</em>
</p><p>Constantine seemed to think about it for a whole minute, before lightly shaking his head.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Time magic isn’t my forte”.</em> </strong>
</p><p><em>“… and neither is human decency”</em> Laurel replied lightly, something almost soft in her teasing and it caught Constantine off-guard, enough to turn around and take a look at her, but that Laurel was already gone when he faced her <strong><em>“… I want to be able to be allowed in the kitchen…”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“… which you are”</em></strong> interrupted John, sending her a look that as definitely questioning her mental health.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… alone”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Absolutely no”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>John was definitely sweeter than her sister when allowing Laurel to do things, although it must have been because he had a less significant relationship with her, and the woman thought that it must be the absence of such a bond that brought the man to be more lenient with her.</p><p>
  <em>But still, the memory of Laurel’s burned hand on the stove mustn’t have been pleasant in his mind.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>And it was still fresh.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“… Zatanna can’t cook”</em></strong> Laurel simply shot back <em>“… I mean… her cooking with spells isn’t bad, but the other stuff is awful, meanwhile I can handle my own shit and can cook my own food, so I just want to be able to do it… <strong>it would definitely benefit all of us”.</strong></em></p><p>
  <strong>“And if you think that we’ll allow you, back, in the kitchen, without any supervision, you are crazier than I thought”.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She also liked John, because he didn’t baby her.</em>
</p><p>Although he still felt like it wasn’t his place to utterly put Laurel back in her own.</p><p><strong><em>“… I don’t want Zatanna, in there”</em></strong> back before the <strong>whole <em>incident</em></strong>, cooking had been something that allowed her to de-stress, and Zatanna’s hovering presence didn’t help with that, at all.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… then you get me”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>It was enough of a bargain to maybe convince Laurel to ignore her sister’s pitiful eyes and her haughty attitude, as the <strong><em>legitimate</em></strong><em> daughter</em>.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Fair enough”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>It was the closest that John would have ever come to a deal with her, in that state.</em>
</p><p>And he seemed satisfied by it, as he started mumbling about them having some flour for muffins that hadn’t expired, yet, and that they could use for their first <strong><em>culinary experiment</em></strong>.</p><p><strong><em>“… no magic”</em></strong> simply replied Laurel, as she allowed John to push her on her feet.</p><p>John was definitely much calmer about her not wanting to learn a single thing about magic, although he insisted that <em>‘it was highly unpractical’</em>, meanwhile to Zatanna it was an offence to her own personality.</p><p>
  <strong>Well, good.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>That was Laurel’s partial intention.</strike>
</p><p>
  <em>They wouldn’t have ever been sister, in that way.</em>
</p><p>Zatanna was still slung on the couch, when they erupted from her room, looking like she had taken quite the hit from her squabble with Laurel, who knew she should have felt proud of her accomplishments, but she couldn’t help but hate herself a bit for her sister’s <strong><em>sickness.</em></strong></p><p>
  <em>‘The faster you realize that I can’t be cured, sister, the faster you’ll stop being hurt by whatever I spit out’.</em>
</p><p>Still, she raised as she noticed Laurel and Constantine, promptly shooting them a concerned look, as they moved to the kitchen.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Going to make fucking muffins”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>John’s tone definitely conveyed Laurel’s enthusiasm at such a menial task, but she couldn’t help but be extremely glad of being able to focus on her own hands and not stuck in her mind.</p><p>
  <em>“… wasn’t in my babysitter’s tasks but…”.</em>
</p><p><strong><em>“Good luck”</em></strong> simply muttered Zatanna, too tired to have any hope of this changing something in Laurel, which made the girl happy.</p><p>
  <em>Maybe there was still hope for her sister to realize that Laurel was completely and utterly gone.</em>
</p><p>John and Laurel had settled quickly on the kitchen, the man more used than her to the whole place, although they both had to search for a few tools and eventually also read the instructions of the oven, meanwhile a soft music spread from the dining room, probably due to Zatanna.</p><p>Laurel was actually forbidden from using headphones, mostly because her ears were extremely frail and <strong><em>knowing what kind of music she craved</em></strong>, Zatanna thought that it was better for her to wait a bit before throwing herself in that.</p><p>She enjoyed, still, the soft music, mostly because it was comfortably enveloping her in some kind of haze, almost as much as the smell of the muffins in the oven, meanwhile Constantine licked clean the recipient with the muffins batter in it.</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel would have chastised him, hadn’t she been extremely eager to do the same.</strong>
</p><p>But with her healing stomach, which had also been slowly curing itself from the hormonal attack that the Joker’s gas had been on her body, she doubted that she could stomach even one of the muffins that she had cooked.</p><p>They hadn’t turned as amazingly as she expected, but she guessed that for somebody who hadn’t been making them for a little more than three months, <strong>they were pretty good.</strong></p><p>Meanwhile she was halfway through mixing something for the icing, Zatanna’s head peaked from the kitchen, mostly looking for John, meanwhile she told him that she’d go in the city to get a few cleaning products and also a bit more of food, probably ingredients to do some baking, considering that Laurel was now allowed back in the kitchen.</p><p>She sent Laurel a small look, before going away, as the other woman just looked onto the ground <strong>with no intention to even consider her.</strong></p><p>She should have felt a bit guilty for it, but it was her own way of biting the words that soared in her throat with the desperate need to push back Zatanna.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>‘I should be back in max an hour’.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Again, Laurel didn’t give her words too much thought, and neither did Constantine, who was by now used to Zatanna disappearing when she had enough of her fights with her sister, trying to find some kind of peace, outside of the household.</p><p>But by the time the muffins were ready, and Laurel had properly decorated them, it had passed an hour and half from when Zatanna had left them, the woman wasn’t back yet.</p><p>John didn’t look worried, but all his nervous tics were on alert, as he again fidgeted with his lighter and went in the back of the house to smoke in peace, right as Laurel started with the icing.</p><p><strong><em>“Shouldn’t she be back?”</em></strong>.</p><p>Laurel’s eyes were set onto the muffins in front of her, a hand playing with the paper wrapped around them, meanwhile John sat in a weird position on the counter, too small for his imposing figure.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… she said an hour…”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Oh, look, her abandonment issues were showing up.</strike>
</p><p>John simply shook lightly his head, almost as if to tell her<em> not to worry about</em>, but still his hands threaded lightly with the kitchen curtains and pushed them back lightly to show the grey scenario behind them.</p><p>
  <strong> <strike>And no Zatanna in sight.</strike> </strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“She must have been stopped by some fans”</em></strong> he muttered, although he didn’t look to convinced<strong><em> “… it happens all the time”.</em></strong></p><p><em>“Did she go shopping with the Vegas costume?”</em> Laurel’s bad humor was a bad way to cope with her absence and the weight it left <em>“… because that would get her a few stares for sure”.</em></p><p><strong><em>“… it would”</em></strong>.</p><p>John’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.</p><p>
  <strong>And Laurel had enough.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“You can admit that you are worried”</em></strong> she blurted out.</p><p>He could.</p><p>Laurel, instead, had this confused mess of threads in her chest that she couldn’t sort out.</p><p><strong><em>“… I am trying to stay calm for the both of us”</em></strong> replied tightly John <em>“… there is no need to be alarmed, considering that she is one of the strongest sorceresses of our generation…”.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Even Superman isn’t invincible”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Nobody could promise you absolute security and protection.</p><p>
  <strike>Laurel could testify to that.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong>She hadn’t been able to protect Pearl.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>And not even the whole Batclan had been able to protect her.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“Why do you have to be such a brat?”</em></strong> John shot back, although there wasn’t any reprimand in his eyes, as he moved off the counter and where his cellphone could be found, under Laurel’s watchful eyes.</p><p>
  <em>She couldn’t be worried for her sister’s wellbeing.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>She felt fucking nothing.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em> <strike>She had still to deal with the grief left by Pearl’s death.</strike> </em>
</p><p><strong><em>“… thought that you’d use magic”</em></strong> muttered Laurel, as Constantine sat beside herself, pushing one a hand in the muffin batch, meanwhile his fingers tapped onto the icon of an app used to track your friends.</p><p><strong><em>“What is technology aside from a long-lasting magical trick?”</em></strong>”.</p><p>His tone was distracted as he shoved a whole muffin in his mouth, meanwhile he searched on the list of his friends Zatanna’s contact, revealing that her phone was ditched a few meters away from the city mall.</p><p>
  <strike>Which wasn’t weird.</strike>
</p><p>
  <em>Maybe, she had simply been stopped by some fans as Constantine had said.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>But by now, two hours had passed since they had last heard of her.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“… now, brat, witness the magic”</em></strong>.</p><p>And simply rubbing his hands together, Constantine’s phone screen lighted up, transmitting like a holograph what was all around Zatanna’s phone.</p><p>And the first thing that made them both tense up was the fact that Zatanna’s phone wasn’t in her purse and neither left in her car.</p><p>
  <strong>It was on the ground.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“You know how I told you that time magic is difficult?”</em></strong> .</p><p>Laurel nodded, completely shook back from the image of her sister definitely not being alright somewhere.</p><p>Laurel would have preferred pushing out a kidney than actually leaving her phone anywhere and she doubted that it would have been different for Zatanna.</p><p>
  <strike>Even if she wanted a bit of peace from the household.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“… well, darling, I’ll need your hand”</em></strong> he gestured to Laurel’s hand <strong><em>“… quite literally actually”.</em></strong></p><p>And he grabbed on Laurel’s hand extended hand, as he put down the half-finished muffin.</p><p><strong><em>“These are good”</em></strong> he muttered, with one last look at Laurel as static electricity coursed through their joined palms and the girl couldn’t help but curse out loudly at that, wanting to tell Constantine to stop.</p><p>
  <em>That she wasn’t ready.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That she hated the thought of magic used on her.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Of using magic.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>But it was too late.</strong>
</p><p>The holograph from John’s phone definitely seemed to be a security camera as it turned back the time, showing that Zatanna’s phone had been in that position for an hour, which meant that whatever had happened it must have started when she had just arrived.</p><p>And then the phone’s prospective amplified and Laurel could see something more.</p><p>
  <strong>Could see the eyes of the person that threw the phone away.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>And then the face.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>They belonged to her sister, Victoria.</strong>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>It had been impossible to hide such a thing to John.</strong>
</p><p>He must have taken a look at Victoria’s graceful features and somehow collected them to Laurel’s gauntly ones, meanwhile the girl simply felt the need to shush him off, and push him away from her, closing herself back in her room.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Why the fuck had her sister attacked her other newfound sister?</em> </strong>
</p><p>Technically Laurel hadn’t seen the assault, just Victoria throwing the phone, so maybe she had just found the phone and…</p><p>… every normal person would have brought it to the <strong><em>lost and found</em></strong>, not thrown it away.</p><p>If you threw it away, it meant you didn’t want it to be found.</p><p>
  <em>But why would her sister feel the need to kidnap Zatanna?</em>
</p><p>Victoria wasn’t John Zatara’s daughter.</p><p>Laurel didn’t know much about their parentage, but she was aware that they came from two different sperm donors.</p><p>So, unlike Laurel, Victoria hadn’t anything to claim with Zatanna.</p><p>
  <em>And if Laurel had to be honest, <strong>she honestly would have preferred to be in her sister’s place</strong>, <strike>without that proverbial sword over her head.</strike></em>
</p><p><strong><em>“… you fucking are trouble”</em></strong> John muttered as he looked at the various pictures he had saved on his phone of what he had been able to grasp through the time charm, unable to add audio, which would help <em>“… do you have any clue, what your sister would want from Zee?”.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Honestly, no”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She couldn’t still find a reason why Victoria might be involved in such a thing.</em>
</p><p>Victoria might have been more rebellious than Laurel, but she had never been the type <strong><em>to be mean to anybody but herself</em></strong>, and most of the time, her worst anger outbursts were actually temper tantrums that lasted <strong>max a day.</strong></p><p>
  <strong>Also, technically her sister and her mother had completely ditched her when the first accusation for Pearl’s murder had come forward.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>So, this couldn’t be about her.</em>
</p><p>Laurel was sure.</p><p>It was petty.</p><p>
  <strong>She hadn’t ever expected her mother’s protection.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>She had, as a child who hadn’t lost all hope in her mother.</strike>
</p><p>But she had somehow thought that Victoria wouldn’t exactly agree with her mother.</p><p>She had pictured her sister to be much more rebellious than she truly was.</p><p>
  <strong>Enough to break her mother’s hold.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em> <strike>And she had been wrong.</strike> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>So, why would Victoria now ditch Zatanna’s phone, evidently covering up something?</em>
</p><p>The answer was quickly obtained as John’s phone beeped with a message.</p><p>Zatanna’s number.</p><p>If her phone was in the trash-bag, they must have taken the sim and planted it into another phone, which definitely proved hoe premeditated all of this had been.</p><p>
  <strong>This wasn’t a mere coincidence.</strong>
</p><p>And in Laurel’s threads of emotions, she couldn’t help but again feel worried about her sister.</p><p>
  <strike>She just didn’t know which one.</strike>
</p><p>The message was a photo, at first, and then a few others came, videos included.</p><p>John tried to hold the phone back, but Laurel simply stopped him from such a gesture.</p><p><strong><em>“This is my family”</em></strong> she muttered, as her fingertips ghosted over the broken screen of John’s phone <em>“… and if you don’t think that I would want to be informed about what the fuck is going on, you are dead wrong”.</em></p><p>The first photo was relatively normal.</p><p>Probably a bit more stalkerish than it should have been.</p><p>It was a photo of Zatanna’s back.</p><p>The ones that followed were downright creepy.</p><p>They all came closer to Zatanna, in the parking spot of the small.</p><p>There wasn’t a whole video of the kidnapping and neither some photos of it, but Laurel and John could fill what they weren’t given, as the video revealed a bounded and struggling Zatanna.</p><p>John, beside Laurel, let out a huge breath, but tried and struggled to stay in the chair, as the video was silent till a voice that Laurel knew perfectly.</p><p>
  <strong>Her mother’s.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Figlia mia…”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Laurel jumped up from the chair, and this time it was John who held her back, pushing her down the chair, as her mother appeared in front of the camera.</p><p>And if her sister resembled her, Cristiana Cellini was the utter copy of Laurel.</p><p>Starkly sharp green eyes and lightly tanned skin, although Laurel’s tended to the paler shade.</p><p>Now that Laurel lost a few good pounds, even their physical corporations were similar.</p><p>
  <strike>And Laurel honestly wanted to puke.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“… Laurel”</em></strong>.</p><p>Her mother’s eyes for a moment were so tight, but as they released their hold onto the camera, they became compassionate and attentive, almost as if she seriously missed her own daughter.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… I am glad to know that you are still alive and the fact that you met your half-sister replenish my heart with joy”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She had known about Zatanna.</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>Which wasn’t that strange.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong>But Laurel held her breath.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“… but what would make me happier is to have you back in my arms”</em></strong>.</p><p>It wasn’t the truth in the slightest, but her mother had Zatanna.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… where you rightfully belong, my heir”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>And then the video ended.</p><p>But it had been more than enough, and when John turned to Laurel, she expected to catch in his eyes nothing more than his disgust and his annoyance.</p><p>
  <strong>She could tolerate that.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Not more weird truths.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… brat, is your mother a lady of chaos?”.</em> </strong>
</p><hr/><p>For somebody who had had quite her own <strong><em>magical awakening</em></strong>, Laurel had to admit that discovering that <strong><em>her mother being some kind of personified chaos wasn’t the weirdest thing she had heard.</em></strong></p><p>
  <strike>In the end, she knew that there were green pools who brought you back from the dead.</strike>
</p><p>And this explained so many things around her mother.</p><p>
  <strong>Her preference for a life that was chaotic and fast.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Her distaste for her daughter.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>And her liaison with John Zatara.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>‘How could the old man be so fucking bling?’</em></strong> commented Constantine, meanwhile he set up the bag with the few things that would help him in getting back Zatanna, after he had alerted the Justice League Dark.</p><p>The members were actually on a mission, but after they had heard of Zatanna’s disappearance, they had said they would wrap up whatever interdimensional adventure they were on and move onto helping John.</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel had insisted they waited for them.</strong>
</p><p>She didn’t know her mother true form, that John had revealed to her, <strong>but she knew her mother</strong> and if there was one thing that she did better than anybody else, was crushing you to your last breath.</p><p><em>‘… my mother isn’t an easy feat’</em>.</p><p>Laurel had lived with her for twenty years and she had to admit that the sole thing that she had learned was that the world spun around Cristina Cellini and not the other way.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>‘… she isn’t an easy human, so that means that her true nature is worse’.</em> </strong>
</p><p><em>‘Perfect’</em> had replied John, opening badly a bottle of wine, underneath the kitchen island <strong><em>‘… always loved a challenge’.</em></strong></p><p>Laurel had tried blocking the entrance of the kitchen as he had moved to leave it, effectively having collected a lot of knives and a few strange ingredients, that she was scared to know what they were for.</p><p>And why they were in the kitchen.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Why can’t I just go back to her?”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>It was the obvious choice.</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel didn’t have anything left, and neither anyone holding her back.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>If her mother wanted her so badly, she could go back to her.</em>
</p><p>If it meant saving Zatanna, she wouldn’t have minded enduring whatever her mother planned of doing to her.</p><p>
  <strong>She had done it once.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> <strike>She could do it again.</strike> </strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“Because that means that we give her what she wants” </em></strong>Constantine had shot back Constantine, trying to shoulder past Laurel, which wasn’t too difficult considering that she had lost most of her muscle mass.</p><p><strong><em>“My mother doesn’t care about me”</em></strong> Laurel had muttered, as she tried to hold back Constantine by one piece of his coat<strong><em> “… she never will! She disinherited me, without asking for anything! She hates me!”.</em></strong></p><p>Constantine stopped in his tracks, and then turned with bloodshot eyes at Laurel.</p><p>She had expected rage.</p><p>
  <em>In the end, she had been the one who put Zatanna in danger.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>John had every right to hate her.</strong>
</p><p>But he just pitied her, as his eyes took in her frail and sick body.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… she might have hated you before she discovered you had magic…”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Her mother’s anger in her memories, in the moments that followed her meeting with her father flashed before her eyes with a different meaning.</p><p><em>‘Your father comes here and asks whether you have magic or not’</em>.</p><p>Her hands had grasped Laurel’s chubby cheeks with much more strength, then she should have.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>‘You aren’t anything but a useless tool to me’.</em> </strong>
</p><p>And then she had slapped Laurel.</p><p>She hadn’t ever been useful to her mother.</p><p>
  <strong>But now she was.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She must have realized that Laurel now had magic.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>And she was after it.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>For a moment Laurel had thought that she had wanted her for what she was.</strike>
</p><p>Not what she could bring to her.</p><p>Her gaze fell as Constantine escaped her grasp.</p><p><strong><em>‘… but now you are useful to her, brat’</em></strong> his tone was somber as he moved to the door <em>‘… and I won’t arm a lady of chaos with another weapon’.</em></p><p>And the door had closed behind him, before a whole tremble went through the house and Laurel heard shackles on the door and when she come closer to them, she rushed to try to open the door, just to find out that she had been locked inside.</p><p>
  <em>Fucking perfect.</em>
</p><p>Laurel knew that it would have been useless, but her anger flooded in the house, as she tried to force the door open just to result <strong>in tiring herself out</strong> and proceed to unnerve herself more as she threw one of the vases against the wall, and then proceeded to throw pillows.</p><p><strong>It was less satisfying</strong>, but her nails gripped so tightly in them that they utterly ripped them open, effectively sending a shower of plumes all over the dining room.</p><p>
  <strong>She couldn’t just disappear in peace.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She just had to be constantly followed by her mother.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>And what was worse was that John hadn’t been wrong in sidelining her.</strong>
</p><p>She had no special ability in a magical fight, thank to her stubborn refusal or coming to term with her magic and learning, but also, she could barely stand in a defensive stance, without the risk of fainting.</p><p>
  <strong>And yet, she had fucking put Zatanna in all of this.</strong>
</p><p>Although she didn’t know how her mother had managed to catch such a trail.</p><p>And why her sister had been involved in all of this.</p><p>
  <strong>The last time she had been sidelined, she had almost risked of dying.</strong>
</p><p>And after the rage,<strong><em> came the panic</em></strong>, the frantic need for new air, when none of the windows would budge open as she felt her breath become more and more strained and it eventually drowned completely effectively resulting in her vomiting in the dining room.</p><p>
  <em>Wasn’t that a nice picture of her mental stability?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>But who could, honestly, blame her for reacting this way, after everything she had gone through?</strong>
</p><p>The last time she had been locked in, she had been kidnapped by a terrorist clown with an inferiority complex that had wanted to create her own <strong><em>‘Jason Todd.</em></strong></p><p>Said clown had then proceeded to expose her to the whole world as a snitch and <strong><em>‘Red Hood’s bitch’.</em></strong></p><p>She hadn’t the best memories of prison, although siding with Poison Ivy and the Riddler had definitely helped her not getting beaten daily.</p><p>
  <strong>But it hadn’t saved her.</strong>
</p><p>The splash of vomit on her clothes wasn’t pleasant and somehow that’s when her whole body started to react on its own, pushing itself up from the ground and moving towards the bathroom, the whole place created so Laurel wouldn’t hurt herself.</p><p>Razors were kept under lock and the meds were also hidden, meanwhile the showerhead was stable and actually attached to the post, but Laurel honestly just put herself under it still dressed, feeling perfectly the cold spray, as her body stood there without a tremble or a reaction.</p><p>
  <strong>She had become a monster.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Her mother would have been so proud of her.</strike>
</p><p>Her nails ripped at the skin underneath the cold spray and eventually they dragged blood across her upper arms.</p><p>The blood was dragged out in a grotesque semblance down the drain, falling down mixed with water her clothed legs, and the way the clothes were attached to her body utterly annoyed her, and she ripped them off easily, as they were dragged outside, completely uncaring of the mess she was creating.</p><p>
  <strong>It felt good to create that mess.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>To see herself in the mirror and be the mess.</em>
</p><p>And when her eyes came in contact with the mirror, once she exited the cold spray of water, they weren’t green anymore.</p><p>They were reddish.</p><p>At first, she thought it must have been some game of her mind, but after battling her lashes for a few minutes, she realized that it wasn’t that way.</p><p>Her eyes were red.</p><p>And the trail of red, around her arms, were disappearing as quickly as they had appeared.</p><p>
  <em>Magic.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>It was fucking magic.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>‘Fucking no’</em></strong> Laurel said in her mind, scratching even more her arms, just for her skin to harden immediately and effectively she almost jammed a nail in her skin.</p><p><strong><em>“Fuck!”</em></strong> she commented as her eyes in the mirror seemed to almost twitch lightly, pumping as she felt blood pumping through her ears, enough to make you lose balance for a moment <strong><em>“… whatever the fuck is happening, I really hope I am not about to turn in a fucking lizard”.</em></strong></p><p>The figure in the mirror smiled.</p><p>But Laurel was sure that she wasn’t.</p><p>And then the figure pushed an hand out.</p><p><em>‘I have seen a lot of horror movies begin like this’</em> Laurel thought.</p><p>Plus, she was naked.</p><p>But the hand just pushed itself closer to her, definitely asking for her to make up her mind.</p><p>
  <strong>This could be a trap created by her mother.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em> <strike>Could she even do that?</strike> </em>
</p><p>First thing, after they rescued Zatanna, she wouldn’t learn how to do magic, but she’d have her own questions about all of this happening.</p><p>
  <strong>She was about to get out of there butt-naked.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>But she had worse ideas.</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>Like fucking Red Hood.</strike>
</p><p>She gripped the hand that was held out and hoped for the best.</p><p>Before she knew it, her whole body felt weightless and before she knew it, she was very much outside of her house.</p><p>
  <em>In comfortable clothes.</em>
</p><p>She had closed her eyes, during the whole <strong><em>magical transport</em></strong>, so, she opened them to feel the new clothes, just to discover that they were some kind of full bodysuit, that went from her neck to her feet.</p><p>
  <strong>Wow, if she had just ended up in a BDSM dungeon, she would have definitely lost her mind.</strong>
</p><p>The bodysuit around her body still didn’t seem something normal: it was almost alive underneath her skin and Laurel felt it almost breath against her, as it adjusted to every little move of her body.</p><p>
  <strong>It was alive.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>And it was pumping in her ears.</em>
</p><p>Till a louder voice caught her attention, and she promptly shifted a bit better to hide herself from whatever was behind the boxes of what looked like an abandoned warehouse.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“You seriously thought that you could play me so easily, Constantine?”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Her mother’s voice.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>How the fuck had she managed to reach her?</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Magic was definitely the best answer.</strike>
</p><p>But considering that Laurel wasn’t understanding whatever was going on with her, she certainly wasn’t going to question all of this further, but instead she pushed herself so that she could see what was going on.</p><p>
  <strong>And apparently, it wasn’t going so well.</strong>
</p><p>Constantine was on the ground, with her mother stepping onto him and not in a pleasurable way, meanwhile Zatanna was very much bound behind her.</p><p>
  <strong>And what was worse was Victoria.</strong>
</p><p>She was looking at the scene completely shocked.</p><p><strong><em>“You come here and expect to save your little partner…”</em></strong> muttered her mother as she came closer to John, right in Laurel’s line of sight, and she couldn’t believe that she had been found out yet <em>“… but you forget to bring my daughter”.</em></p><p><strong><em>“Yeah, the brat isn’t coming”</em></strong> choked Constantine, and Laurel honestly shot him an incredulous look as her mother’s stilettos pushed itself further on his throat and her face came closer to him.</p><p>She looked beautiful, but she couldn’t hide that there was something that was painfully bothering her, as her skin broke over her face and Laurel honestly couldn’t believe that her mother’s whole body seemed to be bound in the elegant clothes she had on.</p><p><strong><em>“… she is”</em></strong> her mother sniffed the air and for a moment Laurel thought that she had been found <em>“… she will, eventually. She took her bleeding heart after her father, after all…”.</em></p><p>Laurel moved lightly as she pushed her hands onto her aching stomach.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Had this entire thing been a good idea?</em> </strong>
</p><p>She hadn’t ever been able to fight her mother, when she didn’t know that she was a lady of chaos, and now she had defeated John Constantine and held Zatanna bound.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>The situation wasn’t good.</em> </strong>
</p><p>And the most she could offer was her bodysuit-clad body and she doubted that her mother would have approved of that.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>But… she could offer a distraction.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She needed a plan.</em>
</p><p>She pushed a hand onto her stomach and closed her eyes, wishing that she could simply disappear and when she reopened them, her suit had completely disappeared, as a good part of her body.</p><p>
  <em>Wait… could she… ahem do magic just by wishing it?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>This would have been fun.</strong>
</p><p>Now, she moved lightly trying to round the place and take a good look at it, as she moved silently and attentively, noticing the way between her and Zatanna there weren’t so many meters if she came onto her right side, which wouldn’t have been so difficult, even more clad by her invisibility.</p><p>She just had to hope that her mother would keep on being focused on Constantine.</p><p><strong><em>“… well, I locked her inside our house, so fuck you</em></strong><strong>”</strong>.</p><p>And John Constantine spit right in her mother’s face, and the redness underneath her skin became more evident and it pushed through the cracks of her skin.</p><p>
  <em>What was happening to her mother?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Would that happen to her too?</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Not the time, and neither the place.</strike>
</p><p>She moved close to Zatanna, as her mother pushed down Constantine, raining a series of kicks to his stomach, as Victoria whimpered, evidently trying to get her mother to stop such a gesture.</p><p><em>“… she has my power, Constantine, chaos! <strong>And chaos can’t be controlled</strong></em>…” her mother’s tone was derisive, almost in a sing-song way that made it seem like she was chastising Constantine.</p><p>Laurel moved to finally be as close to Zatanna as an arm-length, but before she could push to try to undo the binding, which looked very much magical, a gust of air flashed against her body, stealing her invisibility fully.</p><p>And she didn’t need to turn to know her mother was looking at her.</p><p>
  <strong>That she had caught her red-handed.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“What did I tell you, Constantine?”</em></strong> the woman taunted the passed out man <em>“… my daughter after all, <strong>finally making me proud</strong>”.</em></p><p><em>“If I had known it before, I wouldn’t have wasted all that money for college”</em> Laurel replied, as she slowly turned to her mother, feeling her sister’s burning gaze onto her.</p><p>She must have made quite an impression, considering that she was legally dead.</p><p>Her mother shot her a rather annoyed look but did push herself in a welcoming smile as she came closer to Laurel and her bodysuit started coming alive again, fully enveloping her tighter, almost as if it wanted to protect her.</p><p><strong><em>“You look positively, alive, daughter of mine</em></strong>” commented her mother, shooting Victoria a small look<em>“… doesn’t she, <strong>Victoria?”.</strong></em></p><p>Victoria didn’t answer.</p><p>
  <em>“… <strong>I’d like to say the same for you</strong>, but all those expensive Italian baby-sitters you bought for me taught me that lying is a sin”.</em>
</p><p>Her mother didn’t seem too bothered by her sarcasm.</p><p><strong><em>“For a long time, you were my biggest failure” </em></strong>well, that was certainly a way to start your discourse with your suddenly-back-alive daughter <em>“… I coupled with John Zatara in hope of strengthening your power, but you were downright disappointing, <strong>not showing any sign of my magic…”.</strong></em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“You know, children aren’t made for that”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>She should have definitely shut up.</p><p>But she had noticed something.</p><p>
  <strong>Someone was untying Zatanna’s ropes.</strong>
</p><p>And her mother was too focused on her to properly notice it.</p><p>So, Laurel could only distract her mother, in the meantime.</p><p><em>“… I almost wanted to give you to him, when he came to see you” the</em> memory was fresh in Laurel’s mind <em>“… then I thought that it was better to keep my spawn around, <strong>so nobody would use it against me…”.</strong></em></p><p>
  <em>“Very generous of you”.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Wiping your memories was also a fun part of that”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>That got a naturally shocked look from Laurel.</p><p><strong><em>“Oh, sweetheart, mommy had to do it</em></strong><em>, so you wouldn’t know…”</em> Cristiana’s tone was mocking, as she mimicked Laurel’s expression <em>“… it was actually for you… it would have hurt you to know what a little magician you were… nothing as big as your parents…”.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“I… had magic…?”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Laurel hadn’t honestly thought about it too much.</strike>
</p><p>She had simply thought that the extreme life or death situation of being almost blown up had inactivated her memory and it had been all thanks to Zatara’s blood and charm that she had been able to use his charm.</p><p>
  <strong>She hadn’t realized that she had always been magical.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>And her mother had deprived her from it.</em>
</p><p><strong><em>“Oh sweetheart… you were so funny!”</em></strong> her mother’s laugh was hysterical, and Laurel saw the way the ropes slumped over Zatanna’s body, but the girl held them, sending her sister a side-glance meanwhile her mother turned <strong><em>“… always saying things three times… and puff… magic… nothing too big, after all you were a child”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“Yeah, I fucking was a child!”</em></strong>.</p><p>Well, that wasn’t definitely part of the act, but she was definitely annoyed.</p><p>
  <strike>Although that was an understatement.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“… at your age, I had conquered universes”</em></strong> shot back her mother, breaking completely her façade, meanwhile Laurel tried to keep her own up, as Zatanna’s hands started moving lightly behind her, although the gag in her mouth was still in place.</p><p><strong>“And when you were my age, old hag?”</strong> that was definitely a bit more childish than she had planned, but she was running out of creative replies with <em>“… probably during the prehistory”.</em></p><p><em>“I’ll pass over your childish arrogance, Laurel”</em> her mother simply <em>commented “… because you are my blood and, with practice, <strong>you’ll be strong enough.</strong> You have control over invisibility and you have obviously teleported here”.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Bold of you to assume I know how I did all of this”.</em> </strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“And fucking bold of you to kidnap the great Zatanna”</em></strong> muttered a voice behind them.</p><p>
  <strong>John.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>Barely standing and holding his aching stomach.</strike>
</p><p>But a flash of light enveloped Zatanna as she brought through the grip of her restraints and Laurel, as usual, pushed herself towards Victoria wanting to cover her up, in case something bad was about to happen.</p><p>Zatanna ripped off the gag quickly and uttered something that sent her mother to the ground, meanwhile Constantine reached her, checking her body, meanwhile the woman shushed him off and Laurel turned to look at her sister, who finally seemed to get away from the shock of the entire thing.</p><p>
  <strong>And looked at Laurel terrorized, pushing herself away.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, she hadn’t expected that.</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>But she hadn’t certainly thought that her sister would be ecstatic to know that she was back from the dead.</strike>
</p><p>And then her mother’s laughter reverberated as she raised from the ground, cleaning the blood at her mouth, from the impact, as the skin underneath broke further and revealed a blackish tissue that utterly seemed unhuman.</p><p><strong><em>“… will that happen to me, too?”</em></strong> Laurel wasn’t able to avoid the question, as Zatanna shot her a worried look, but once she realized that she was fine, she turned to her mother, who had shed completely her human skin <em>“… yeah, really hoping that won’t happen to me too”.</em></p><p><strong><em>“Oh, aren’t you cute?”</em></strong> her mother’s gaze settled itself on all of them, slowly, examining each of their flaws and capturing them in her black stare <em>“… all for one and one for all…”.</em></p><p><strong><em>“Laurel! Protect your sister”</em></strong> commanded Zatanna and Laurel this time didn’t think about doubting her word, as she pushed Victoria to stand up and moved lightly against some boxes, as John’s palm started shining bright <em>“… I and John will solve this”.</em></p><p><em>“Let me tell you something, daughter of Zatara…”</em> her mother’s teeth were also definitely sharper than Laurel had ever seen them, but it might be also the influx of considering her mother a monster for so long.</p><p>Which, in the end, turned out to be true.</p><p><strong><em>“… you haven’t the power to win this fight”</em></strong> she hissed with such a voice that just rang painfully in Laurel’s and Victoria’s ears, the younger girl lightly pushing herself closer to her sister.</p><p><em>“I have fought some lords of chaos, before</em>…” commented Zatanna, a protection charm enveloping her fully, meanwhile she took an attack <strong><em>stance “… and I have defeated them, all”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“Oh, but sweetheart…”</em></strong> her mother’s cooing tone made Laurel and Victoria shiver lightly, and they both pushed themselves closer, more out of instinct than truly knowing what they were doing <em>“… you fought against people like Klarion The Witch Boy… lord of chaos… males who couldn’t do the job properly… <strong>but I am a lady of chaos and I am much stronger than any silly human with magic will ever be”.</strong></em></p><p>And with that the air changed fully around them, enveloping them fully and crackling with static electricity that fully held everyone there.</p><p>Zatanna fell onto the ground and, as John rushed to her, he also was hit by whatever painful experience, his friend was going through and her mother controlled fully the whole place around them.</p><p>Even Zatanna’s restraints and she had been the one who had let Laurel come close to Zatanna were all her plans.</p><p>
  <strong>She was much stronger than they all gave her credit for.</strong>
</p><p>Although Laurel didn’t know much about Zatanna and John, she knew for sure they were powerful.</p><p>And the fact that they weren’t able to defeat her mother, scared her thoroughly.</p><p><strong><em>“On your knees”</em></strong> her mother screamed, and both the magicians followed the order, although their bodies seemed to fight against it <strong><em>“… where you belong squealing pigs!”.</em></strong></p><p>The terrific scene, in front of Laurel’s eyes, was stopped briefly by Victoria’s scream.</p><p>The girl escaped her grip, fully exposing herself to her mother, as she begged her to stop this nonsense.</p><p><em>“Whatever is going on…!”</em> she seemed even more confused than Laurel, and the girl couldn’t exactly blame her, but tried to hold her back <strong><em>“… mother, stop this! Stop this insanity!”.</em></strong></p><p>Their mother seemed to be completely uncaring of her youngest’s opinion.</p><p>But Victoria held her ground, coming closer to her mother, the whole electricity in the air not bothering her as it did with the two magicians, and it eventually got to her mother’s attention, who released lightly her spell.</p><p>
  <strong>But both John and Zatanna seemed too painfully stricken down to react.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“Victoria”</em></strong> her mother’s voice resonated, even louder than it should have in the empty storage room, and Laurel knew it wasn’t a good thing, so she rushed to back up her sister, although Victoria hadn’t ever done such a thing for her <strong><em>“… this is none of your business”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“You are hurting them!”</em></strong> screamed Victoria, as she came closer and closer to her mother, meanwhile Laurel tried to summon whatever bit of magic she could use to properly protect her sister <strong><em>“… stop! This is utter madness!”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“This is chaos!”</em></strong> replied their mother loudly, her scream resounding through the walls and paining Laurel enough that she had to cover her ears <strong><em>“… this is my birthright!”.</em></strong></p><p>Her unnatural dark eyes fell onto Laurel, and a smirk appeared on her face.</p><p><strong><em>“… Laurel’s birthright…”</em></strong> Laurel felt the power that her mother was wielding fully enveloping her, and she held an hand out to grip, almost out of <em>instinct “… <strong>not yours</strong>, still… and it is so hurtful because for all your life I thought that you’d be the one who’d make me proud, <strong>but you are my biggest disappointment</strong>”.</em></p><p>Cristiana might have as well shot Victoria, because the words had a huge effect on the girl, and the woman smiled, proud of the chaos that she brought up, right as Laurel decided to take all of this on her advantage, grabbing even more strongly onto her mother’s charm.</p><p>
  <strong>And then yanking it, fully stealing it from her mother.</strong>
</p><p>And her bodysuit gleamed red, for a few minutes before her powers fully enveloped and she tried her best to hold them there and control them, meanwhile Victoria screeched her name and her mother’s eyes gleamed with happiness.</p><p><strong><em>“A fast learner…”</em></strong> commented her mother, who sprinted up forward, levitating a few meters from the ground, meanwhile Laurel did the same thing, more because of her power than her own true will.</p><p>She was actually panicking for the fact of not having the ground anymore, beneath her.</p><p><em>“… you can kidnap my half-sister…”</em> Laurel muttered, as the power roared in her body and she felt herself becoming one with it, feeling the rumble of chaos in her veins as its destructive power took over her brain <em>“… kick John Constantine’s ass…<strong> but I draw the line at insulting my sister”.</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>“Feelings make you weak, child”</em></strong> her mother uttered, with a fake benevolent grin on her mouth <em>“… that’s what is holding you back from achieving the full power, <strong>my inheritance…”.</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>“Ever thought I maybe don’t want your stupid power!”</em></strong> the daughter shouted back, as the power filled her fully and her word opened in a screech, releasing all its power and its strength <em>“… I don’t need your inheritance…”.</em></p><p>
  <strong>And then power flooded completely from Laurel.</strong>
</p><p>She looked at it fascinated by the way it shone bright red, around her filling her perfectly and utterly shining bright as she released it fully.</p><p>This was a horrible idea.</p><p>
  <strike>But they hadn’t many more options.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel could burn herself if it meant that the others could survive.</strong>
</p><p>The utter blast of power missed her mother by a few centimeters, as the woman sniggered loudly, and shot back a bit of her own power, and Laurel avoided it out of pure look, disbalancing herself as she did so, and wasn’t ready for the second blast of power.</p><p>Her own power enveloped her fully, shielding her, but it was obvious that she couldn’t keep going like this against her mother.</p><p>She couldn’t just shoot her a blast of power after the other.</p><p>It was already tiring to hold all of this together.</p><p>
  <em>She couldn’t do this for long.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>She needed a plan.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She couldn’t beat her mother, that much as true.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>But she needed to hold her back.</strong>
</p><p>Capture her.</p><p>If her powers could be in blast of powers, then it meant that it could be also done in other ways.</p><p>
  <em>Such as a cage.</em>
</p><p>Laurel didn’t know how long it would have hold her, but she needed to try.</p><p>Now how to come closer to her mother.</p><p>Her mother looked at her suspiciously.</p><p>She might have been cocky enough to know she was much more powerful than Laurel, but she didn’t underestimate her daughter, knowing the entity of her true power.</p><p>She would have definitely understood it, if Laurel had tried to charm her.</p><p>
  <em>What would have Batman done in such a thing?</em>
</p><p>Probably her worst train of thought.</p><p>
  <strong>She didn’t need camaraderie and the ‘no kill rule’ at the moment.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>What would have Jason done?</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>Not the best idea, definitely.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong>That didn’t leave many options.</strong>
</p><p>She called back her power and hold it there for the moment, suppressing it, meanwhile she thought about all those months where apathy had been nothing but the norm for her, meanwhile she recalled the explosion in her head, holding her power in place, under the burning pretense of calm.</p><p>She held her threaded heart in her chest, in a cage of iron, as she plummeted to the ground, letting her mother think that she hadn’t stabilized her power, yet faking pain as the hit left her broken, and trashing, holding out for her mother.</p><p>Laurel had always wanted her mother’s approval, so it wasn’t so strange that she now wanted it and she knew how to act like she wanted it.</p><p><strong><em>“Oh, sweet daughter of mine</em></strong>” softly replied Cristiana, crouching down low, meanwhile his dusty power completely enveloped her still <em>“… I knew you would have inevitably seen the hunger of power and you would have seen the charm of chaos, <strong>it was just a question of time”.</strong></em></p><p>And she grabbed Laurel’s hand, right as her daughter released all her power, that she had mended as a cage with glass walls, indestructible and utterly holding her mother inside, meanwhile she trashed against it.</p><p>Laurel amped up the strength of the glass and held her inside, clenching her fists, as her mother trashed utterly and fell onto the ground, meanwhile she transmitted the pain she had felt in those months to her mother.</p><p>
  <strong>And she enjoyed the sight of her mother’s trashing on the ground like an animal.</strong>
</p><p><em>“I am not a bearer of chaos, mother!”</em> her voice wasn’t even human anymore, and the bodysuit suddenly enveloped her whole body as a red shade passed through it, completely changing her skin, making it coarser and sharper <strong><em>“… I am a bearer of pain! I received all of this during a lifetime of rejection and hate, and I give it back to you, tenfold!”.</em></strong></p><p>The scream shattered the windows of the storage room, and it woke up Zatanna and John, who now looked at Laurel in utter amazement.</p><p>
  <strong>And fear.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Fear felt good.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Fear felt right.</strong>
</p><p>Her mother cried in her own cage, and Laurel stole the breath from her lung.</p><p>
  <strong>She was going to kill her.</strong>
</p><p><strong><em>“I am an apt pupil, mother”</em></strong> she said as her mother trashed on the ground search for her air, as Laurel’s smile became as sharp as her claws <em>“… you taught me to hate myself, and I learned to hate you”.</em></p><p>Her mother’s whole body shook, as her supernatural appearance shattered beneath her, leaving her with no protection.</p><p>And that was the perfect moment to end this.</p><p>But Laurel’s hands were clutched by a tight and clammy grip and, as Laurel turned, determined to destroy whatever had tried to stop her from her rightful mission, she found her sister.</p><p>A look of pure horror and fear on her face.</p><p><em>“… Laurie… Laurie… you are not… my Laurie…”</em> no, she wasn’t anymore <em>“… don’t do this, you can’t… don’t do this… for me…<strong> you might hate her… but you… you can’t kill her”.</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>“This isn’t your prey”</em></strong>.</p><p>Laurel’s voice petrified her on the spot, and she realized that she hadn’t solely broken herself apart, but that she had entrapped herself in her own cage of iron, inside of her chest, unable to control the monster she had become.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Let me have this!”.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Victoria clutched her tighter, and Laurel banged against the walls, till she eventually broke through.</p><p>And the magical cage dissolved completely, as her mother laid onto the ground, completely destroyed, but still breathing.</p><p>She fell as well onto the ground, feeling like the last time she had slept must have been a week ago, and Victoria’s hold onto her loosened completely.</p><p>And then voices were heard as Zatanna tried to shake her awake, meanwhile John held onto her sister and pushed himself to her mother’s broken form, muttering what seemed a containment enchantment.</p><p><strong><em>“Breathe in and breathe out” </em></strong>Zatanna ordered her and Laurel allowed herself to, meanwhile she felt her whole body completely shatter under the pressure of whatever the fuck she had just done<em> “… we’ll get out, and back home…”.</em></p><p><em>“The League is coming to clean up this fucking mess</em>” cursed John, as a cigarette was brought to his lips but not lighted up <strong><em>“… I’ll take the sister home…”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“Don’t touch me!”</em></strong> screamed loudly Victoria as John tried to touch her <em>“… I don’t know what the fuck is going on<strong>! My mom is a fucking monster and my sister, who was supposed to be fucking dead… is somehow back… and not a fucking zombie!”.</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>“… I can explain”</em></strong> Laurel’s mutter was tight, even for her <em>“… and about mom… are you seriously surprised that she is a monster?”.</em></p><p><strong><em>“… and apparently magic exists! Yuppity yeah!”</em></strong>.</p><p>Victoria’s tone was downright hysteric and Laurel with Zatanna’s help managed to push herself in a seated position, to be able to look at her younger sister in the eyes.</p><p>And they were clouded with fear.</p><p>Fear of her.</p><p>
  <strong>And Laurel understood now perfectly what had happened.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>She had lost control.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She had almost killer her mother.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And she had wanted to.</em>
</p><p><strong><em>“… you almost killed mom....”</em></strong>.</p><p>This was a whisper, but it hit Laurel thoroughly.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“… you wanted to, Laurel! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”.</em> </strong>
</p><p><em>“Vic…”</em> Laurel called out to her, but it was just a bad wish, a stupid wish, for her sister to see her and understand that she hadn’t meant to <strong><em>“… please… I… am sorry…”.</em></strong></p><p><em>“You always thought that mom was a monster, Laurel</em>?” Vic’s tone was now downright accusing <strong><em>“… well one of these days take a look in the mirror and see whatever is going in your fucked up head”.</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>“That’s enough”</em></strong>.</p><p>John Constantine’s words seemed to shake Victoria out of her rage, but she still sent Laurel a painful look, as she turned out and ran for the door, completely leaving her, there, again.</p><p>
  <strong>And it didn’t hurt this time.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>And it just made Laurel feel more like a monster.</strike>
</p><p><strong><em>“Let’s go home”</em></strong>.</p><p>Zatanna’s comment left Laurel simply able to nod lightly.</p><p>But she hadn’t a home anymore.</p><hr/><p><strong><em>“What the fuck is this stink?”</em></strong> John immediately screeched, after he and Zatanna had teleported themselves back to their home, holding Laurel tightly between them.</p><p><strong><em>“My puke”</em></strong> commented weakly Laurel, meanwhile Zatanna pushed the smell away with a simple enchantment, helping her sister onto the couch, meanwhile the bodysuit she had worn all this time disintegrated itself in dust to the ground, leaving her completely naked.</p><p>But Laurel honestly couldn’t care anymore.</p><p>She couldn’t be brought to care for anything, anymore.</p><p>
  <strong>Not even Death could have given her the peace she was aching for, in this moment.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Jason had left her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The family that she had been adopted into had left her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her own sister thought she was a monster.</em>
</p><p>
  <strike>And she had every right to say so.</strike>
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel had lost the control.</strong>
</p><p>There wasn’t any other way to describe what had happened with her mother.</p><p>She had wanted to make Cristiana Cellini disappear.</p><p>
  <strong>She had wanted to destroy her.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>And she didn’t feel even a miniscule amount of guilt for it.</em>
</p><p>The truth was that she didn’t feel anything <strong>but empty.</strong></p><p><strong><em>“Let’s take a shower, alright?”</em></strong>.</p><p>Zatanna’s tone was babying, but Laurel didn’t comment about it, as the woman led her upstairs and into the bathroom, ignoring the slight blood she found there, and instead washing off her sister, under the hot spray that seemed so coarse against her skin.</p><p>No weird shade of red anymore and neither her eyes turning grey.</p><p>
  <strong>She was human again.</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>But deep down she knew that she wasn’t that<strong> fully</strong>.</em>
</p><p>So, she asked that question to Zatanna:</p><p><em>“I want to know…”</em> her eyes meet her sister’s light ones <strong><em>“… what the fuck I am”.</em></strong></p><p>For the rest of the afternoon, they talked about ladies of chaos and magic.</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel had inherited both her mother’s chaos magic and Zatara’s ability to cast magic.</strong>
</p><p>That’s why the charm he had given her had worked.</p><p>Her mother’s magic relied on chaos and Cristiana Cellini probably had never existed.</p><p>She was a personification of chaos and controlled it or…</p><p><strong><em>‘… tried to use it to her advantage’</em></strong> would be a better explanation, commented Constantine as he drank straight from what looked like cheap scotch <em>‘… her power and yours just heighten when you are around chaos’.</em></p><p><strong><em>‘… that means I can lose control, easily’</em></strong> as it had happened today.</p><p>Although she hadn’t uttered the last part, Zatanna seemed to catch it as she met her eyes gently.</p><p><strong><em>‘You’ll learn how to control it’</em></strong> she promised, gently touching Laurel’s hand, who pushed it back, although gently but sternly.</p><p><strong><em>‘You can’t control chaos’</em></strong> Laurel stated.</p><p>It was impossible for her to control this, <strong><em>even more in the state she was right now.</em></strong></p><p><em>‘With time, it’ll get better’</em> John tried, but it wasn’t comforting in the slightest, and Laurel simply nodded, although she was thoroughly convinced, but both John and Zatanna seemed too tired to be careful around her, although they insisted on having dinner, as if nothing had happened.</p><p>As if they hadn’t gotten kidnapped and almost killed because of her.</p><p>It was all her fault.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>‘If you need anything, you can count on us, Laurel’.</em> </strong>
</p><p>Zatanna’s venomous distrust towards her had been dampened and Laurel just believed that she didn’t want to upset her any further, probably seeing as she had acted after her sister had straight up rejected her.</p><p>
  <em>Hadn’t she been so tired and guilty, she would have fought her.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>But Zatanna was also honestly trying her best.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strike>And Laurel felt a bit guilty for what she did that night.</strike>
</p><p>She hoped that she could give them back the money that she had taken, and honestly if she had any other option, she wouldn’t have hesitated to give off the few jewelry she had on her body, but it would have gotten recognized.</p><p>And she was doing everything so that she could cut ties with everyone that knew her.</p><p>So, they wouldn’t get hurt.</p><p>
  <strong>By her mother.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>By whatever enemies she had created for herself, and most importantly.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>By Laurel, herself.</strong>
</p><p>She used a bit of her magic to change her appearance and to keep herself quiet meanwhile she walked away from the house that had helped her recovery.</p><p>She left Zatanna and John a note telling them that <em>she wouldn’t be bothering them anymore and that she appreciated what they had done for her.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>That she hoped they’d be able to have a better life without her.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>That she’d return the money.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>But that she wouldn’t return.</strong>
</p><p>And then, Laurel Cellini vanished in the darkness of the night.</p>
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